This is a timeline of major events in the history of the city of Melbourne, Australia.

18th century

• 1797 - George Bass explores the south-east coast of Australia

19th century

• 1800 - James Grant explores the south-east of Australia
• 1801 - John Murray sails into Port Phillip Bay in the Lady Nelson
• 1803 - Charles Robbins and Charles Grimes explore entirety of Port Phillip Bay and discover the Yarra River in the Buffalo
• 1803 - David Collins sent from Sydney to establish a settlement for the British Government, who (incorrectly) feared that the French wished to settle in the lucrative shipping lane. Unaware of previous discoveries, Collins settles near present-day Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula. This settlement is soon abandoned
• 1834 - The Henty family establish first long-term European settlement in Victoria at Portland
• 1835 - John Batman sails to the mouth of the Yarra from Tasmania in the Rebecca
• 1835 - John Batman 'buys' the 2,430 km&sup2 that Melbourne would be founded on from the local Aboriginal nation, the Wurundjeri, with blankets and trinkets
• 1835 - Melbourne is founded by John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner
• 1837 - June 1 - First official survey and inner-city land sale
• 1837 - The Hoddle Grid of streets for the central business district is laid out by Robert Hoddle
• 1838 - Melbourne is declared a legal port and administrative centre, opening the way for vastly increased immigration
• 1838 - Second inner-city land sale
• 1839 - Third inner-city land sale
• 1841 - First seaport and market are opened
• 1842 - Melbourne City Council is formed
• 1848 - Melbourne Hospital founded (from 1935 the hospital is called The Royal Melbourne Hospital)
• 1851 - Beginning of the Victorian gold rush with discovery of gold in Ballarat
• 1851 - Victoria becomes a separate colony from New South Wales
• 1851 - First state Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe inaugurated
• 1852 - City's first gas works is opened
• 1854 - The Melbourne Terminus (first Flinders Street Station building) is completed
• 1854 - First steam railway journey in Australia from Flinders Street Station to Port Melbourne (then Sandridge)
• 1854 - Melbourne Exhibition held in conjunction with Exposition Universelle (1855)
• 1854 - The University of Melbourne is founded
• 1854 - The State Library of Victoria is founded
• 1854 - First telegraph service, to Williamstown
• 1854 - The first Town Hall is completed
• 1855 - First state Governor Sir Charles Hotham inaugurated
• 1855 - The Melbourne Museum is founded
• 1857 - First reservoir water supply (at Yan Yean ) tapped outside city limits
• 1857 - Queen Victoria Market is founded
• 1857 - Australia's first country railway from Geelong to Melbourne is built
• 1858 - First inter-city telegraph services, to Adelaide and Sydney
• 1859 - Spencer Street Station (then Batman's Hill Station) and Princes Gate Station completed
• 1859 - Construction of the General Post Office begins construction
• 1861 - National Gallery of Victoria is founded
• 1861 - First Melbourne Cup
• 1861 - Victorian Exhibition held
• 1861 - Melbourne's population reaches 125,000
• 1862 - Melbourne Zoo founded
• 1866 - Intercolonial Exhibition of Australasia held
• 1867 - The current Town Hall begins construction
• 1869 - The Royal Mint is completed
• 1874 - The Supreme Court building is completed
• 1875 - Victorian Intercolonial Exhibition held
• 1877 - First ever Test cricket match
• 1880 - Royal Exhibition Building opened
• 1880 - Melbourne International Exhibition held
• 1884 - Victorian International Exhibition held
• 1885 - First cable tram line begins operating
• 1885 - Victorians' Jubilee Exhibition
• 1887 - The current Town Hall is completed
• 1888 - Victorian Juvenile Industrial Exhibition and Centennial International Exhibition held
• 1890 - The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works is formed
• 1897 - First season of the Victorian Football League

20th century

• 1900 - The Puffing Billy Railway opens
• 1900 - Construction of the current Flinders Street Station building begins
• 1901 - The Commonwealth of Australia is formed. Melbourne becomes national capital
• 1903 - The City Baths are opened
• 1905 - First Australian Open championship
• 1906 - First electric tram service commences
• 1907 - The General Post Office is completed
• 1910 - Current Flinders Street Station building is completed
• 1913 - The Domed Reading Room of the State Library is opened
• 1919 - Electric suburban train services commence on the Broadmeadows line
• 1923 - W-class trams introduced
• 1924 - first radio station 3AR
• 1927 - Federal Parliament is moved to Canberra, the new national capital
• 1928 - Melbourne City Council installs city's first set of traffic lights at Collins and Swanston streets
• 1940 - Last cable tram service ends operation
• 1943 - Russell Street Police Headquarters building is completed
• 1954 - April - Victorian Railways closes the Puffing Billy Railway
• 1955 - City's first parking meters are installed
• 1956 - First television station HSV-7
• 1956 - The Olympic Games held in Melbourne
• 1962 - The Puffing Billy Railway is re-opened as a tourist attraction
• 1970 - October 15 - 35 construction workers die when a span of the West Gate Bridge collapses
• 1975 - Z-class tram introduced
• 1982 - The City Loop subway is opened
• 1985 - Port Melbourne and St Kilda train lines are converted to light rail
• 1985 - B-class trams introduced
• 1986 - Car-bombing outside the Russell Street Police Headquarters kills one police officer
• 1986 - Rialto Towers, the city's current tallest building, is completed
• 1986 - Pablo Picasso's Weeping Woman is stolen from National Gallery of Victoria by activists. Returned a week later
• 1987 - Hoddle_Street_massacre, killing 7 and injuring 19.
• 1987 - Queen_Street_massacre, killing 8 and injuring 5.
• 1992 - Pedestrianization of Swanston Street creates Swanston Street Walk
• 1994 - Opening of the Melbourne Observation Deck in Rialto Towers
• 1996 - Development of the Docklands area begins
• 1996 - Construction of the CityLink freeways begin

21st century

• 2000 - The CityLink freeways open, including two new tunnels, a new cross-harbour bridge, and electronic tolling
• 2000 - Docklands Stadium (renamed Colonial Stadium, now Telstra Dome) completed
• 2000 - March 6 - Bourke Street pedestrian extension opened
• 2001 - Melbourne's population reaches 3,366,542 (2001 census)
• 2001 - Low-floor C- and D class trams introduced
• 2002 - October 26 - Federation Square opens
• 2002 - NewQuay, a precinct of the Docklands development opens
• 2003 - December - Rennovation of the National Gallery of Victoria International is completed
• 2004 - Central City Studios, a precinct of the Docklands development opens
• 2005 - Eureka Tower, the city's new tallest building, to be completed
• 2006 - The Commonwealth Games to be held in Melbourne
• 2015 - Expected completion of the Docklands development

See also

• History of Melbourne
• List of themed timelines